Vontobel Holding Ltd. Acquires 43,637 Shares of Accenture PLC $ACN

Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Accenture PLC (NYSE:ACN) by 36.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 162,315 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock after buying an additional 43,637 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Accenture were worth $43,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,070,930 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $17,726,831,000 after buying an additional 854,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Accenture by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,135,065 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $6,938,156,000 after buying an additional 118,460 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Accenture by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,471,554 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $4,687,867,000 after buying an additional 343,420 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Accenture by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,656,436 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $3,922,212,000 after buying an additional 218,719 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Accenture by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 10,693,994 shares of the information technology services provider’s stock valued at $2,869,199,000 after buying an additional 546,198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.14% of the company’s stock.

Accenture Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ACN opened at $169.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.08. Accenture PLC has a 1-year low of $155.82 and a 1-year high of $317.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $181.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $221.83.

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 20th. The information technology services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.84 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $18.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.80 billion. Accenture had a return on equity of 26.33% and a net margin of 10.61%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.82 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Accenture PLC will post 13.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Accenture Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th were issued a dividend of $1.63 per share. This represents a $6.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 9th. Accenture’s payout ratio is currently 53.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered shares of Accenture from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $260.00 to $210.00 in a report on Monday, June 1st. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $250.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $300.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Accenture from $315.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Accenture in a research note on Tuesday. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Accenture currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $259.89.

Insider Activity at Accenture

In other news, CEO Atsushi Egawa sold 4,872 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.14, for a total value of $863,026.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,267,746.28. This represents a 27.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company that provides a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. The firm works with organizations across industries to design and implement business transformation programs, deploy and manage enterprise technology, optimize operations, and develop customer and digital experiences. Its offerings encompass management and technology consulting, systems integration, application and infrastructure services, cloud migration and managed services, as well as security and analytics capabilities.

The company delivers industry- and function-specific solutions, combining consulting expertise with proprietary tools, platforms and partnerships with major technology vendors.